While I take all aspects of my job very seriously, before we get into the launch of the new Chanel Chance Eau Splendide, I want to make something very clear: I do not mess around when it comes to my reviews of any of the best perfumes, but especially Chanel perfumes. Chanel runs the game when it comes to fragrance—and I don’t say this lightly.
Throughout my decade-long career as a beauty journalist who specialises in all things fragrance, if I have learned anything, it is that Chanel sets the olfactory gold standard. From Chanel Coco Mademoiselle to No5, the fragrance house has created some of the most popular perfumes of all time.
It is, therefore, almost needless to say that I consider a Chanel perfume launch day up there with the most important in my calendar. So, I’ve had the launch of Chanel Chance Eau Splendide marked and highlighted in my diary since early December.
For the past five months, I have spent most of my working days thinking about this perfume. And finally, some time last month, without any insight into what the new Chance addition would smell like (although I could assume it would have the same floral perfume DNA as the original), a bottle of it landed on my desk, giving me a four-week preview ahead of launch.
Over the next couple of weeks, you will be seeing a lot of Chanel Chance Eau Splendide. Chanel is famed for going big on marketing when it comes to its fragrance launches. Singer, Angèle is the face of the perfume, and I’m seeing advertising almost everywhere I look. Beyond that, Chanel has orchestrated a two-week pop-up on London’s Chance Street to celebrate its launch, and the purple-hued playground is already all over my TikTok. (It’s free to visit and is running until 5th May, FYI.) But before you consume any more information about this buzzy perfume launch, I urge you to read this first…
Chanel Chance Eau Splendide, Reviewed
Chanel
Chance Eau Splendide Eau de Parfum
Key notes: Raspberry accord, rose, violet, geranium, cedar, white musk, iris
If it was a bag: A washed denim Chanel 22
If it was an outfit: A pink, bouclé mini-skirt suit
If it was a drink: A raspberry sling
My many years of working in the fragrance industry have taught me to read nothing about a perfume before trying it myself. You see, to bring you the most insightful and honest reviews of perfumes, I like to limit any bias I might subconsciously form before smelling it for myself. And while I can confirm I had no idea what Chanel Chance Eau Splendide would smell like, I had a few expectations.
For starters, Chanel perfumes are some of the most long-lasting perfumes around, they are all expensive-smelling scents and each one is a total compliment magnet. Beyond this, Chance perfumes are up there with my favourite ever—they are, in my opinion, elevated, Chanel-ified skin scents that straddle the line of fresh perfume and musky perfume expertly. They smell like smooth skin dripping in diamonds and champagne. So, although I didn’t know what Chance Eau Splendide was going to smell like exactly, I had a pretty good idea of what its vibe was going to be.
But as I spritzed the lilac juice onto my skin for the first time, I pulled back. While jasmine and musk sit at the heart of every Chance perfume that has come before it, offering that expensive-smelling, powdery base, the first spray of Eau Splendide is not any of that—it’s fruity. And while what I’m about to say sounds like an insult at first, I need you to bear with me: Chance Eau Splendide is fruity in the sort of way that all fruity perfumes are. It’s sweet, fresh and effervescent in a way that doesn’t seem particularly special by Chanel’s standards. But after about 30 seconds, something amazing happens, and this unassuming perfume becomes one that is not only impossible to hate, but impossible not to fall in love with.
When Chance Eau Spendide hits the skin, it simply smells like sugar-coated raspberries warming under the summer sunshine—there’s nothing else to it. It’s syrupy in the way that juice is in the heat, and it doesn’t stand out from other sweet, youthful fruity perfumes. But as soon as it settles, after just a few seconds, it evolves into something almost unbelievably impressive. It becomes something water-like, aquatic and airy, like clear blue skies on a sunny but crisp day. And before you have a second to process this, you’re hit in the face with the iconic Chance richness—that expensive-smelling ribbon of bubbling Dom Pérignon, Harry Winston diamonds and a little black dress.
In essence, Chanel Chance Eau Splendide is the fun, cooler, more self-aware little sister of Chance. It isn’t trying to be someone it’s not. It’s a fruity scent at first, sure, but it doesn’t really care what anyone thinks about that. Chance Eau Splendide isn’t here to play dress up or cosplay as a power scent—it’s an unashamedly joyful summer perfume. It is the fruity perfume for those who want their presence to put others at ease and plant smiles on people’s faces. It is effortlessly fun, but still unique and expensive-smelling enough that it makes you feel undeniably special. Is it as long-lasting as other Chanel scents? No, you can expect its musky, shimmering Chance base to disappear after a few hours. But, in my opinion, that’s the joy of the Eau Splendide girl—she doesn’t sit still, but my gosh does she leave an impression.
Shop More Chanel Chance Perfumes
Chanel
Chance Eau de Parfum
Key notes: Pink pepper, jasmine, patchouli, amber, white musk, vanilla
Chanel
Chance Eau Tendre Eau de Parfum
Key notes: Quince, grapefruit, rose, jasmine, white musk
Chanel
Chance Eau Fraîche Eau de Parfum
Key notes: Citron, jasmine, teak wood